Arpia.behttp://www.arpia.be
Website of Peter Craddock, lawyer, designer, novel writer and composerSun, 24 May 2015 08:54:37 +0000en-UShourly1New design: lighter, meaner, mobile-friendlierhttp://www.arpia.be/2015/05/new-design-lighter-meaner-mobile-friendlier/
http://www.arpia.be/2015/05/new-design-lighter-meaner-mobile-friendlier/#commentsSat, 23 May 2015 14:13:58 +0000http://www.arpia.be/?p=452Welcome to the brand new Arpia.be! The past few months have been significant for me, and I haven’t had much time to devote to this website, let alone update its design. Still, an update was necessary, especially given that the old one was still not mobile-friendly. So, a few hours of playing around with simpler … Continue reading New design: lighter, meaner, mobile-friendlier→

The past few months have been significant for me, and I haven’t had much time to devote to this website, let alone update its design. Still, an update was necessary, especially given that the old one was still not mobile-friendly.

So, a few hours of playing around with simpler designs later, I started to prepare a new one. The result is in my view cleaner, lighter, more fun. Also, it finally works well on my iPhone.

I’m also thinking about migrating away from arpia.be itself. As time goes by, the link between what I do and Arpia feels more and more remote… which means that I may link the server itself with a new domain name in the coming months. We’ll see.

Feel free to play around with the new design. The randomised paint blobs still appear all over the place, so reload a page to see different blobs appear instead.

I may soon post an actual update in terms of content. After all, the past few months have been life-changing in many ways. In that case… stay tuned!

]]>http://www.arpia.be/2015/05/new-design-lighter-meaner-mobile-friendlier/feed/0Brick Painting: build your own LEGO-based reproductionshttp://www.arpia.be/2014/11/brick-painting-build-your-own-lego-based-reproductions/
http://www.arpia.be/2014/11/brick-painting-build-your-own-lego-based-reproductions/#commentsThu, 06 Nov 2014 21:17:15 +0000http://www.arpia.be/?p=427For a long time now, I’ve wanted to decorate my apartment with paintings. Ideally some of my favourite paintings, too, but a Monet isn’t exactly a small purchase, and learning to copy Van Gogh isn’t exactly a rapid process. It turns out I can make copies that are more tangible than a print-out and that … Continue reading Brick Painting: build your own LEGO-based reproductions→

]]>For a long time now, I’ve wanted to decorate my apartment with paintings. Ideally some of my favourite paintings, too, but a Monet isn’t exactly a small purchase, and learning to copy Van Gogh isn’t exactly a rapid process.

It turns out I can make copies that are more tangible than a print-out and that say “look, I am art!” in a completely different way, all thanks to little LEGO blocks.

By “Brick Painting”, I don’t mean “paint on construction bricks”. I mean the act of converting an image to LEGO-compatible colours, then building it using LEGO blocks.

As a child, I played a lot with LEGO blocks, but until I received this year a mini Star Wars X-Wing fighter in LEGO as a birthday present from Denmark, I hadn’t given them much thought recently. And then, that magic lightbulb moment occurred, and I decided I just had to make LEGO-based paintings for my flat.

It’s not the easiest process to “obtaining” a painting, but it’s certainly easier than learning to master painting techniques. It isn’t a faithful reproduction, but it’s more creative than printing out an image. In other words, it’s a lazy yet creative person’s dream.

Step one: converting an image to LEGO-compatible colours

After looking online for simple programs that would convert images to LEGO blocks, I found a couple that seemed promising (for instance the Kickstarted Brick A Pic), but didn’t find what I was looking for. I therefore created my own, Brick Painter, which is also available for download on GitHub.

[since creating Brick Painter, I’ve discovered the page of Legoaizer, which seems very complete, but isn’t open source and isn’t available for the Mac]

The premise of Brick Painter is simple: choose a picture, choose the dimensions and colour palette, and get a blockified result, an image that contains LEGO-coloured blocks.

In its current form, Brick Painter doesn’t e.g. take into account the available sizes of LEGO blocks, which means you may encounter 1×1 blocks of “Bright Yellowish Green” or “New Dark Red”, when these aren’t sold on the LEGO.com store (at least, not as “plates”, i.e. the thinner kind of block). This makes it more limited than e.g. Legoaizer, but given its open source nature, feel free to add functionality.

Step two: getting the right LEGO bricks

Once you have your blockified image, you have to build it. And for that, you need LEGO bricks. While Brick Painter doesn’t tell you how to build it, it does tell you which colours you need and in what quantities.

This then allows you to order the bricks in question from any LEGO reseller. LEGO.com has a “Pick a Brick” section that allows you to specify your individual brick needs, and it sends the entire package in one big bag (all blocks mixed up). Other resellers sell by bags of 100 of a specific block size – for instance, I ordered various bags from brickshop.nl.

Which kind of brick? LEGO offers “bricks”, “plates” and “tiles”. Bricks are much thicker, which makes the painting “fatter”, though there is probably a greater variety. Plates feel much more “paint-like”, given that they are much thinner, but there seems to be a more limited colour palette. Tiles are the smooth equivalent of plates, but you can’t add depth to the result with them. For this reason, I’ve limited Brick Painter to colours available in plate form.

One thing to remember: you have to build on something. LEGO ground plates are available in 32×32 and 48×48 sizes, and you can buy smaller-sized plates or ground plates to place around them.

Now, thanks to the program, I’ve built four paintings that have also been framed, and have a few more on the way. It’s not the cheapest or easiest way of getting a “fake” Master, but it’s more satisfying than just getting a print-out.

Step three: building your LEGO-based reproduction

The best thing to do here is simply start from one of the corners of the image and start building. Where Brick Painter shows you one block in a colour that is only available in plates of 1×2, imagine whether placing a 1×2 instead will break the image or improve it.

You may have to change the result somewhat depending on the actual dimensions. For instance, the result generated for one image of Monet’s San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk was 64 blocks wide, 53 blocks high. For stability reasons, I wanted to have multiples of 8, which meant I had to bring it down to 64 blocks wide, 48 blocks high (i.e. two 32×32 ground plates, then the equivalent of 64×16, which I obtained through 4 plates of 8×32 – unfortunately not available from the LEGO.com store).

Once you’ve finished building it, it isn’t necessarily final. I am still in the process of tweaking a version of Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, because despite several revisions, I’m not yet fully satisfied.

And then, if you’re happy, be sure to frame it and hang it. My apartment is already looking livelier thanks to the bright colours and contrast brought by the four LEGO-based paintings I’ve completed and framed so far.

For your information, cost estimate of building and framing my LEGO version of Monet’s San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk:250 EUR in plates + 25 EUR in ground plates + 90 EUR for frame= 365 EUR (approx.)

]]>http://www.arpia.be/2014/11/brick-painting-build-your-own-lego-based-reproductions/feed/0The Brick Painter, for all master buildershttp://www.arpia.be/2014/10/the-brick-painter-for-all-master-builders/
http://www.arpia.be/2014/10/the-brick-painter-for-all-master-builders/#commentsThu, 23 Oct 2014 21:03:35 +0000http://www.arpia.be/?p=425The Brick Painter is a little web application that converts any image you feed into it (within reason) into blocks. Specify the height or width in blocks, choose the colour set, and it generates the brickified image for you. It then tells you which colours of bricks are needed to build the image, and in … Continue reading The Brick Painter, for all master builders→

]]>The Brick Painter is a little web application that converts any image you feed into it (within reason) into blocks. Specify the height or width in blocks, choose the colour set, and it generates the brickified image for you.

It then tells you which colours of bricks are needed to build the image, and in which quantities. This allows you to then (if you are crazy enough) build it after ordering the relevant bricks (if you don’t have them in stock).

]]>http://www.arpia.be/2014/10/the-brick-painter-for-all-master-builders/feed/0Let the mind wander in the deserthttp://www.arpia.be/2014/06/let-the-mind-wander-in-the-desert/
http://www.arpia.be/2014/06/let-the-mind-wander-in-the-desert/#commentsSun, 15 Jun 2014 16:59:06 +0000http://www.arpia.be/?p=418Less off the beaten track than the (also recent) Repenting (at least for me), Desert Crossing is a more classical piece with soundtrack overtones. See if you can imagine yourself crossing the desert on a camel. Or something different.

]]>Less off the beaten track than the (also recent) Repenting (at least for me), Desert Crossing is a more classical piece with soundtrack overtones. See if you can imagine yourself crossing the desert on a camel. Or something different.

]]>http://www.arpia.be/2014/06/let-the-mind-wander-in-the-desert/feed/0Going electronichttp://www.arpia.be/2014/06/going-electronic/
http://www.arpia.be/2014/06/going-electronic/#commentsMon, 09 Jun 2014 08:42:18 +0000http://www.arpia.be/?p=416And it’s that time of the decade again – Peter has gone electronic in his music. At least, another attempt, one I prefer to my previous ones. It’s got a beat I can walk to, it’s got electronic sounds galore – many sins I have committed while composing this piece. Yes, the title is Repenting.

]]>And it’s that time of the decade again – Peter has gone electronic in his music. At least, another attempt, one I prefer to my previous ones. It’s got a beat I can walk to, it’s got electronic sounds galore – many sins I have committed while composing this piece. Yes, the title is Repenting.

]]>http://www.arpia.be/2014/06/going-electronic/feed/0Janssens-Quidam redesignhttp://www.arpia.be/2014/05/janssens-quidam-redesign/
http://www.arpia.be/2014/05/janssens-quidam-redesign/#commentsThu, 01 May 2014 09:46:10 +0000http://www.arpia.be/?p=408Now that I’m working with a new law firm (Liedekerke, or Liedekerke Wolters Waelbroeck Kirkpatrick in full), it was high time I redesigned the Cat Hat / Janssens-Quidam e-reputation website. For the uninitiated, this website presents the fictional tale of Janssens-Quidam SA/NV, presenting practical guidance on the legal implications of building and defending one’s e-reputation. … Continue reading Janssens-Quidam redesign→

For the uninitiated, this website presents the fictional tale of Janssens-Quidam SA/NV, presenting practical guidance on the legal implications of building and defending one’s e-reputation.

The design is less heavy and more in line with the feel of another project I’m hoping to unveil soon.

Content updates are also planned for Janssens-Quidam, due to legislative consolidation at a Belgian level (the Belgian Business Law Code or Code de droit économique / Wetboek van Economisch Recht). More on that when the updates are ready.

]]>http://www.arpia.be/2014/05/janssens-quidam-redesign/feed/0An untimely first Russian-sounding tune?http://www.arpia.be/2014/03/an-untimely-first-russian-sounding-tune/
http://www.arpia.be/2014/03/an-untimely-first-russian-sounding-tune/#commentsSun, 09 Mar 2014 18:32:47 +0000http://www.arpia.be/?p=403It’s really an accident, but here I am publishing what I find to be the most Tchaikovsky-inspired composition I have written so far… right in the middle of the Ukraine crisis. Wind Whispers is a mishmash of sorts, a blend of classical and contemporary, waltz and modern.

]]>It’s really an accident, but here I am publishing what I find to be the most Tchaikovsky-inspired composition I have written so far… right in the middle of the Ukraine crisis. Wind Whispers is a mishmash of sorts, a blend of classical and contemporary, waltz and modern.

]]>http://www.arpia.be/2014/03/an-untimely-first-russian-sounding-tune/feed/0End of year, new soundhttp://www.arpia.be/2013/12/end-of-year-new-sound/
http://www.arpia.be/2013/12/end-of-year-new-sound/#commentsMon, 30 Dec 2013 21:33:15 +0000http://www.arpia.be/?p=3952013 is about to end, and it feels like I’m really getting back into music. Nineteen Times is the first in a long time to combine piano, bass, guitar and drums. A new sound, of sorts. I look forward to 2014!

]]>2013 is about to end, and it feels like I’m really getting back into music. Nineteen Times is the first in a long time to combine piano, bass, guitar and drums. A new sound, of sorts. I look forward to 2014!

]]>http://www.arpia.be/2013/12/end-of-year-new-sound/feed/0Paint frenzyhttp://www.arpia.be/2013/06/paint-frenzy/
http://www.arpia.be/2013/06/paint-frenzy/#commentsSun, 16 Jun 2013 22:53:31 +0000http://www.arpia.be/?p=378It’s no secret that since I thought up the design for the Cat Hat e-reputation website, I have kind of fallen in love with paint splotches. [I’ll soon have to start creating real-life ones, but that’s another story entirely.] Some two weeks ago, I felt it was time for me to come up with yet … Continue reading Paint frenzy→

]]>It’s no secret that since I thought up the design for the Cat Hat e-reputation website, I have kind of fallen in love with paint splotches. [I’ll soon have to start creating real-life ones, but that’s another story entirely.]

Some two weeks ago, I felt it was time for me to come up with yet another arpia.be redesign idea. Unlike the N previous ideas, I ended up really liking the end-result.

What better way to start summer than with bright colours?

In the previous design, if you clicked on the “next page” button enough, you stumbled upon a couple of random bits of content. Here, the “bonus” element isn’t extra content but rather the fact that each visit is unique, with the paint splotches semi-randomly changing all the time, across the entire website.

It wasn’t entirely a painless process, mainly because the semi-random behaviour is more difficult to code than one would anticipate, but it was a fun coding experiment.

]]>http://www.arpia.be/2013/06/paint-frenzy/feed/0Winter & spring meet in songhttp://www.arpia.be/2013/04/winter-spring-meet-in-song/
http://www.arpia.be/2013/04/winter-spring-meet-in-song/#commentsWed, 10 Apr 2013 20:38:30 +0000http://www.arpia.be/?p=371Dandelion is my latest addition to my repertoire, a blend of tunes that were composed in the winter and just now that spring has arrived. Still many more in the pipeline, at least if I can finalise and record them!

]]>Dandelion is my latest addition to my repertoire, a blend of tunes that were composed in the winter and just now that spring has arrived. Still many more in the pipeline, at least if I can finalise and record them!